The Waste Management tournament in Scottsdale, AZ certainly is a spectacle, if that’s the look directors are going for. Perfectly pruned and tended greenery in the desert, allegedly developed with water conservation in mind, clear mid-winter air, mountains in the distance, a slate of top players.
And plenty of buzz, mostly alcohol fueled.
The announcers can’t stop talking about crowd size and the electricity in the air, especially at the 16th hole, the par-3 Stadium Hole, where yesterday some patron fell from the stands and hurt herself, don’t know how badly. Where fans by the thousands, in various stages of inebriation, yell and throw beer cups and whole beers onto the fairway when someone hits a hole-in-one or a player sinks a long birdie and gives the crowd the “raise the roof” sign. Behavior pretty much laughed off and condoned as fans just being fans…
It’s ridiculous, but apparently what the PGA is looking for, in light of LIV’s emergence as the edgy tour with shorts and fan/player interaction and the general air of rebellion and wildness.
It’s overplayed and a bit sad, this desire to be relevant and cool. It says a lot about the fans themselves, if this is the bait that brings them out in droves. No sport is immune from the need to behave badly, get loud, go crazy, let the hair down. Like that’s always a good thing.
It’s tired and contrived, and lends a certain dissonance to a sport like golf.
3 Cents' 